SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Breakout Labs, a seed-stage fund for hard science, announced today that
four new companies advancing scientific discoveries in biotechnology,
chemical engineering and energy have been selected for funding.

“At Breakout Labs, we invest in daring entrepreneurs who are developing
novel scientific technologies in new categories that defy traditional
industry labels,” said Lindy Fishburne, Executive Director of Breakout
Labs. “The four new companies joining our portfolio – ZymoChem, Opus 12,
Azitra and Seatrec – each demonstrate our commitment to catalyzing
scientific discoveries across broad applications. The technologies
they’re commercializing will have enormous impact on the world, and
create value for a number of industries that are in desperate need of
innovation.”

Treating skin conditions with supercharged
probiotics

Farmington, CT-based Azitra, Inc. (http://www.azitrainc.com/)
is using the skin’s own microbiome to create innovative, inexpensive,
and sustainable treatments for skin diseases ranging from eczema to
staph infections. The company’s proprietary candidate, "AZT-01," is a
recombinant strain of a safe skin bacterium that secretes therapeutic
proteins.

“The microbiome is an explosive field, and we're using cutting edge
genetic tools to enhance natural and safe bacteria as a platform for
novel therapeutics,” said Travis Whitfill, Co-founder and CSO of Azitra.
“We are very excited to join the Breakout Labs community—its support
will propel us forward with our proof-of-concept preclinical studies in
eczema. Many patients with skin disease are suffering from symptoms that
are not fully addressed with current treatment options, and we hope to
provide effective therapeutics that treat the root cause of eczema and
eventually other skin diseases with our platform.”

Creating value with carbon dioxide

Each year U.S. companies release 2.5 billion tons of carbon dioxide into
the atmosphere because they lack useful, cost-effective ways to capture
and reuse CO2 waste. Berkeley, CA-based Opus 12 (http://www.breakoutlabs.org/crb_portfolio/opus-12/)
has created a reactor that captures CO2 at the source of emission, and
utilizes water and electricity to transform it into safe,
cost-competitive chemicals and fuels.

"We founded Opus 12 based on the belief that the fastest way to scale
environmental impact is through market-driven solutions,” said Nicholas
Flanders, Co-founder and CEO of Opus 12. “By transforming CO2 from
low-value waste into high-value products, we can reduce emissions and
generate tremendous economic benefit simultaneously."

Powering ocean research with thermal recharging
technology

Several tons of environmentally harmful lithium batteries are discarded
into the ocean every year while performing vital marine research. Seatrec,
(http://seatrec.com/)
a spinoff of NASA JPL/Caltech that’s based in Pasadena, CA, has created
a unique solution to generate electricity from temperature differences
in the ocean. Its first product, the Seatrec Thermal Recharging (TREC)
battery, eliminates the need for lithium batteries and uses renewable
energy drawn from the ocean itself to power underwater platforms and
unmanned vehicles for ocean exploration.

“Harvesting the thermal energy associated with temperature differences
in the ocean is the only scalable and cost effective way to power
unmanned underwater vehicles with unlimited capacity and endurance,”
said Dr. Yi Chao, Founder and CEO of Seatrec. “We’re confident in TREC’s
potential to change the future for undersea exploration, defense, and
industry. Looking ahead, we will use the TREC technology to provide
remote off-grid power on land and ice.”

Replacing petroleum with sugar to produce
chemicals sustainability

ZymoChem (http://www.zymochem.com/),
based in Berkeley, CA, is developing biotechnology-based solutions for
making chemicals from renewable materials instead of petroleum, reducing
the environmental footprint while increasing profitability of
production. ZymoChem’s proprietary microbes are engineered to use
feedstocks like sugars for producing chemicals that go into everyday
products such as plastics, fragrances, and fabrics. The company’s novel
designs enable their engineered microbes to achieve nearly 100 percent
efficiency in converting sugar into chemicals, while eliminating
wasteful production of harmful emissions.

“We want the next ski jacket you buy, or the carpet in your home to be
made from sugar not oil,” said Harshal Chokhawala, Co-founder and CEO of
ZymoChem. “Some of the world’s most widely-used chemicals are produced
using toxic and unsustainable processes. For example, creating adipic
acid—a compound used in the production of a wide array of consumer goods
including carpets, jackets, automotive plastics, and food
packaging—requires using petroleum and toxic chemicals, and releases
powerful greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Because of the efficiency
of ZymoChem’s technology, companies can produce many common chemicals
including adipic acid through microbial fermentation, which is more
sustainable and can easily become cost-competitive to traditional
production methods, even at today’s low oil prices.”

Operating out of the Thiel Foundation as a seed-stage radical science
fund, Breakout Labs has invested in 30 companies at the forefront of
biotechnology, data and materials science, and advanced energy
solutions. The fund invests up to $350,000 in cutting-edge scientific
companies to achieve specific milestones during the two year period
program. Breakout Labs portfolio companies receive entrepreneurial
guidance and connections within an extensive network of scientific and
business experts to help them on their path to commercialization.

To date, portfolio companies have raised more than 14 times the amount
of seed capital invested in the program by the Thiel Foundation; seven
companies have gone on to raise Series A and two have closed Series B
rounds.